New Shaders Make Minecraft Look Unbelievably Good

Minecraft super-fan Sonic Ether has released the latest update to his Shader mod, and the results are impressive, to say the least:

Users thinking about installing the mod should be sure to keep all the usual caveats in mind. It isn’t officially supported by Mojang; users should install at their own risk. A few small known issues are also still being squashed.

The bulk of the mod’s wizardry is intended to “simulate different effects that occur in the real-world in how light reacts with objects and with the human eye.” As expected, these visual updates come at a cost. Sonic Ether’s Unbelievable Shaders can only run effectively on fairly high-end PCs.

Users can download the mod and check out all kinds of tweaks and optimizations on the its official Minecraft forum page or Sonic Ether’s Facebook fan page. If you’re still on the fence, check out some of the more impressive screenshots the mod can produce (note that some of these community screenshots have been further modded):

Impressive, right? What mods do you have installed to make Minecraft look its best? Leave some tips in the comments below!

Justin is Editor of IGN Wireless. He has been reviewing cell phone games since the dark days of Java flip phones. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.